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The Sackler family—the ultra-wealthy family that made billions from illegally marketed opioids and the group largely blamed for sparking and fueling the devastating, $504 billion-per-year epidemic of opioid addiction—has been making even more money off the country’s drug crisis than previously thought, according to a series of reports by the Financial Times.

Further Reading

The Sacklers own the infamous drug company Purdue Pharma, which in 2007 pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges for misleading doctors, regulators, and patients about the addictiveness of its branded oxycodone opioid drug, OxyContin. Yet the guilty plea seemed to do little to reform the company’s ethics or curb sales, according to a new report in the FT. Purdue continued to recklessly push the drugs on doctors, insiders told the outlet, and in 2010, it was raking in more than $3 billion in OxyContin sales.

In 2016, Rhodes and Purdue together supplied 14.4 million opioid prescriptions. This makes them the seventh-largest opioid maker by market share, accounting for six percent of the US opioid marked, according to documents viewed by the FT.

The figure is striking because Purdue has long denied a prime role in the opioid epidemic by noting that OxyContin sales only account for a small percentage of opioid prescriptions in the US—just 1.7 percent in 2016. But the combined market share of Purdue and Rhodes significantly weakens that argument.

Moreover, former Purdue employees told the FT that sales reps were incentivized not just to ruthlessly expand the sale of OxyContin but to also push generic opioids. Specifically, part of their bonuses were calculated based on the size of the overall opioid market. That unusual business move makes a lot more sense knowing that Purdue’s owners also owned a company that sells generic opioids.

Further Reading

Since its 2007 guilty plea, Purdue has faced more than a thousand lawsuits from states, cities, and counties, all making similar allegations of misleading marketing that fueled the opioid epidemic. Late last year, the White House Council of Economic Advisers estimated that the epidemic of opioid fatalities and misuse led to an economic loss of $504 billion in 2015, or 2.8 percent of the GDP. More than 33,000 Americans died of opioid overdoses that year.

Purdue and the Sackler family continue to deny a role in the epidemic and fight the lawsuits. But Purdue announced earlier this year that it would stop aggressively marketing OxyContin.

Also this year, Purdue and Richard Sackler obtained a patent for a novel form of the mild opioid buprenorphine that can be used as a treatment for opioid addiction, according to a third report by the FT.

The patent application notes:

While opioids have always been known to be useful in pain treatment, they also display an addictive potential in view of their euphorigenic activity. Thus, if opioids are taken by healthy human subjects with a drug-seeking behavior, they may lead to psychological, as well as physical, dependence.

Seriously though, this sounds like the plot of a bad movie or strange conspiracy theory. Pharma company creates <illness> to drive demand for <illness cure> they developed. Anyone trying to look for a conspiracy here would actually have a chance of hitting paydirt

the family quietly opened a second drug company called Rhodes Pharma just four months after the guilty plea. And since then, the Rhode Island-based pill maker has become one of the largest producers of generic opioids in the US.

The worst part is that, even if all of the lawsuits are successful, the worst case scenario for the Sacklers is getting away slightly less super ultra rich. Sadly there is no real justice for people like these. If there were, they would end up with every dime they have ever made from this atrocity seized and used for drug rehab efforts and funerals for the victims, with every one of them working as janitors in related facilities until the end of their days, witnessing firsthand what they have done.

the family quietly opened a second drug company called Rhodes Pharma just four months after the guilty plea. And since then, the Rhode Island-based pill maker has become one of the largest producers of generic opioids in the US.

How is this not a huge anti-trust violation?

Mega money?

I'm first to scream 'educate the people' but that will never reach the levels needed. Next best thing is to come down hard on the people who take advantage of poor and desperate. At some point we are going to admit that most countries can't deal with their own corruption and begin to refer horribly criminal but untouchable cases such as this to some sort of international human rights abuses court. Big pharma pushing opioids belongs there. So do corps which are willfully destroying the environment.

Seriously, is there some reason we don't just give kratom to opioid addicts, at least as a first-line option? I have yet to hear of wave of "kratom deaths", and it's about as "open source" and low-cost a solution as there is.

I'm more that positive that the opiod problem is based off the fact that suppliers don't keep track of what they are sending out their doors and to whom.

There was an american journalist that was tracking orders from small mom and pop shops in the sticks for opoids. 1000s of pills being ordered under a single persons name. Enough pill for several life times.

Supplies said, Ya sure, on problem. BOOM. where did the 90% of the pills go???black market. The only people that care are the ones that are left to pick p the pieces.

So, regardless of a single drug supplier being blamed for the whole situation, it's not solely their fault. The whole supply chain is subject.

"In 2016, Rhodes and Purdue together supplied 14.4 million opioid prescriptions. This makes them the seventh-largest opioid maker by market share, accounting for six percent of the US opioid marked, according to documents viewed by the FT.

The figure is striking because Purdue has long denied a prime role in the opioid epidemic by noting that OxyContin sales only account for a small percentage of opioid prescriptions in the US—just 1.7 percent in 2016. But the combined market share of Purdue and Rhodes significantly weakens that argument."

I'm Just to used to reading about firms with 30%+ market share in the US that 6% of the US market just makes me think it's still insignificant.

As usual, blame Congress. If they weren't in the pocket of these corporations, the principals would already have forfeited all their assets (RICO), and be viewing the world in orange jumpsuits. What ever happened to all the bribery statutes? Now it seems perfectly fine if they are labeled "campaign contributions".

The worst part is that, even if all of the lawsuits are successful, the worst case scenario for the Sacklers is getting away slightly less super ultra rich. Sadly there is no real justice for people like these. If there were, they would end up with every dime they have ever made from this atrocity seized and used for drug rehab efforts and funerals for the victims, with every one of them working as janitors in related facilities until the end of their days, witnessing firsthand what they have done.

The baffling thing about these sorts of situations is how, despite the significant list of injured parties and the well known American propensity of ill-hinged gun access; it still seems to be a pretty low risk business.

I'd naively assume that the presence of literally millions of people who have reasons to be unhappy about the effects of opiates on themselves, their friends, or their family; and not always a whole lot to lose, would be both terrifying and perilous.

Seriously though, this sounds like the plot of a bad movie or strange conspiracy theory. Pharma company creates <illness> to drive demand for <illness cure> they developed. Anyone trying to look for a conspiracy here would actually have a chance of hitting paydirt

I don’t think 'conspiracy theory' is the right description at all -- 'business model' is far more apt. There is no doubt here when the facts are laid out.